One eBay feature immediately apparent to members is that even a small-scale seller can do business on a global scale. As of June 2013, eBay has markets in North America, Australia and regions across Europe and Asia. Beyond that, eBay can provide small businesses opportunities that they might not otherwise merit, including free checkout and payment software, shipping calculation and a fairly low overall cost to use.

Exposure

The potential for global exposure means that instead of being limited to a particular business area, a small-scale seller has the ability to gather customers from any place where online shoppers access eBay. While this is true for larger companies too, smaller businesses benefit more in the sense that they typically don't have the resources that bigger businesses have to market their products across multiple markets or areas.

Cost

EBay complements a small-scale seller's fewer resources also in terms of its cost, which isn't that much. Basic sellers on eBay don't need to pay a monthly fee for eBay's services, but instead allow eBay to take a small percentage of each sale. In fact, some eBay sellers might not even lease their own commercial space at all, but instead work out of their homes or garages to run their small business, which allows these sellers to eliminate expensive overhead.

Growth

EBay also gives smaller-scale sellers room to grow, providing a selling structure to match each progressive step. The most basic sellers, for example, can list up to 50 items a month without being charged insertion fees. After 50 items, eBay then charges sellers anywhere from 5 to 30 cents per listing. Once a seller starts to average 150 monthly listings, then eBay encourages her to open an eBay online store, which costs at least about $20 per month, as of June 2013, and provides a minimum of 150 free monthly listings.

Tools

Beyond providing tools to grow, eBay also gives small-scale sellers a step-by-step process for posting each product. The eBay platform helps sellers determine nuts-and-bolts details such as product category and shipping cost. Additionally, eBay's checkout interface -- typically reliant on PayPal or Bill Me Later -- allows sellers to process sales and get paid, which is a feature that they'd otherwise have to provide on their own by creating their own websites. However, eBay's not alone in this sense, with Amazon being a major competitor. Furthermore, some small-scale sellers have relied on online classifieds sites like Craigslist to do business. So while eBay does offer advantages, also consider what other options you have that could work for your business.

About the Author

Aaron Charles began writing about "pragmatic art" in 2006 for an online arts journal based in Minneapolis, Minn. After working for telecom giant Comcast and traveling to Oregon, he's written business and technology articles for both online and print publications, including Salon.com and "The Portland Upside."